Attorney
General Announces Corruption Charges Against
State Government Employee with Using Government
Position to Obtain Personal BenefitState
Grand Jury Indicts Former State Park Maintenance
Supervisor with Official Misconduct

TRENTON
–Attorney General Peter C. Harvey
announced that the Office
of Government Integrity (OGI) has
charged a State government employee with
allegedly falsifying competitive bid documents
to award those contracts to a single vendor
who provided landscaping services at a
State park. The State Grand Jury charged
official misconduct, tampering with public
records and receipt of gratuity by a State
employee.

“This
indictment charges a former State park
maintenance supervisor with falsifying
bid contracts relating to landscaping
services at a park to provide preferential
treatment to a single vendor. In addition,
the state employee received $1,000 in
travel gift certificates from the vendor,”
said Attorney General Harvey. “This
investigation and prosecution is another
example of corruption that is, unfortunately,
considered ‘business as usual’
for some government employees.”

“We
are pleased that the Attorney General
acted promptly in this case, after I referred
this matter for investigation,”
said Department
of Environmental Protection Commissioner
Bradley M. Campbell.

According
to John Kennedy, Director of the Office
of Government Integrity, a State Grand
Jury indictment charged Frank Wayland,
61, an employee of the Department of Environmental
Protection and residing at Theodore Conrad
Drive in Jersey City, with second degree
official misconduct, two counts of third
degree tampering with public records and
two counts of receipt of gratuity by state
employee. If convicted on all counts,
Wayland faces up to 10 years in jail.

The
indictment charges that from October 2001
and March 2004, Wayland, while serving
as a maintenance supervisor at Liberty
State Park in Jersey City, awarded landscaping
contracts to Winks/TBC Tree and Lawn Care
without utilizing the bidding procurement
procedure for procurement of services
that was required by law. Allegedly, Wayland
falsely certified on numerous occasions
that he had solicited telephone bids in
order to defraud his supervisors into
believing the bidding process was competitive
and in compliance with State bidding laws.
In addition, the indictment charges that
Wayland, on two occasions, did accept
Liberty Travel gift certificates from
Winks/TBC in the amount of $500 each.

OGI
State Investigators Greg Rucker, Ray Kaminski
and Deputy Attorney General Alison Aaron
were assigned to the investigation. DAG
Aaron represented the OGI before the State
Grand Jury.

The
defendant is presumed innocent of the
charge unless and until proven guilty
in a court of law.